Sacramento Building Performance

Home Performance Upgrades - Click to Enlarge

Last Friday I attended the contractor kickoff meeting for SMUD’s Home Performance Program.   Promoted as a soft launch, between now and September SMUD staff will verify eligibility requirements of participating contractors and gear up for a media campaign involving print, online, television and radio advertisements.

Here are the basics of how the program will work:

Two Paths to Energy Savings

As discussed in previous posts, there will be two program paths you can follow.  The first is the Prescriptive Option which requires a walkthrough assessment by an SMUD approved home performance contractor.  This option includes a preset package of basic improvements:

• Air sealing to eliminate leaks and minimize drafts
• Attic insulation
• Duct sealing to minimize HVAC system leakage and maximize efficiency and comfort
• Insulating water heaters and piping
• Combustion appliance safety testing and installing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms as needed.

Other considerations: 

• The first three are required measures.  For example, if your home already has sufficient attic insulation you won’t qualify for the prescriptive option.
• All five of the upgrades must be present by completion of the job.
• Estimated energy savings is 20%
• The maximum rebate amount will be $1000, though you may also qualify for federal tax incentives until December 31, 2010.
• The rebate comes directly to the homeowner from SMUD (if all electric home) or a combination of SMUD and PG&E (if home has both gas and electric).  The total rebate is still $1000.  How it will be split is up to the discretion of the utility companies.

There has never been a better time to improve the comfort, efficiency and durability of your home

Home Performance with Energy Star®

The advanced or Performance Package is based on guidelines in the EPA’s well known and respected Home Performance with Energy Star® program. 

In addition to the five elements of the prescriptive approach qualified measures can include:

• HVAC
• Solar water heating
• Windows
• Wall and floor insulation and more

Other features of the Performance Option include:

• A whole-house energy assessment by a BPI certified Building analyst is required.
• Computer energy modeling of the proposed improvements is to be done by the contractor to determine the level of savings and thus the ultimate rebate amount.
• Rebates increase with the amount of efficiency over the existing home.  Beginning at $2000 for 20% improvement and increasing $500 for each additional 5% improvement, maxing out at $5000 for 50% improvement.
• You can still qualify for the federal incentive of $1500 maximum until the end of the year.
• In addition SMUD offers secured and unsecured loan programs to finance all or a portion of the project.

Quality Control and Customer Satisfaction

SMUD and PG&E take customer satisfaction and quality control very seriously.  In addition to certifying each participating contractor meets strict training requirements and is in good standing, there is a independent 3rd party quality control program in place to field verify installation quality.  The first 3 projects done by each contractor are inspected and a certain percentage chosen at random thereafter  by the independent verifier.  All projects are required to log in pre and post work information into a central database that is monitored by SMUD and their project administrator.

Steps to Take Advantage of This Great Opportunity

1. Select a qualified contractor from SMUD’s list of Participating Home Performance contractors.
2. After your contractor performs the energy assessment and builds the energy simulation he will provide you list of cost-effective improvements tailored to your home’s needs and your goals. You will choose the work scope you want, authorize the contractor to perform the work and turn in your rebate application.
3. The contractor completes the retrofit work and performs post work testing to ensure the agreed upon performance targets were reached.
4. SMUD and/or PG&E approves and issues the rebate check(s) to you in 4-6 weeks

Together with the federal incentives there has never been a better time to improve the comfort, efficiency and durability of your home!

For more information visit the SMUD Home Performance website.

Contact me at 916-416-0676 or by email at jeff@sacsustainable.com to talk about getting started on your home performance project and taking advantage of these great rebate opportunities!

Related posts:

1. SMUD Dramatically Increases Rebates for Home Performance!
2. SMUD Home Performance Project Saves Over 50%
3. SMUD Home Performance Program Coming Soon!